One of our merchants recently tried to run a $480,000 transaction! It got declined at the terminal. They had run $200,000 transactions before, but this new one wouldn’t go through! So why not? Doesn’t the processor want that amount of money running through their coffers? Not necessarily, here is the story.
Credit card processing companies assume the risk of chargebacks if the merchant does not have enough money in their bank account to refund the money from a chargeback. The consumer has six months to question a charge on their bill and issue a chargeback. The credit card deposits look like cash and spend like cash unless they are charged back. In other words, credit card deposits are the merchant accepting credit, not cash.
So this particular merchant called us to find out how to deposit this credit card charge. They had an invoice, the charge was legit, and approved by the buyer. They assumed that their transaction amount limit needed to be approved for a higher amount and they were correct. So we went to work to ask the processor for the limit raise for our customer, who had been our client for 15 years.
At first, we contacted the risk department who said that there was no reason why the credit card terminal wouldn’t take the big amount. It should have been approved. They did not see a limit imposed on this merchant. After the transaction went through, the risk department might put a hold on the deposit since it was such a high amount. Risk told us to call the tech support department to make sure the correct flag was on inside the terminal, so the large transaction could take place.
So we contacted technical support who told us that they couldn’t make any changes without the permission of the risk department. We contacted the risk department who sent us back again to the technical support department! Round and round we went. Along the way, someone suggested we call the underwriting department to get the limit raised. Underwriting said it needed to be changed at the terminal and the risk department would then put a hold on it if they thought that was necessary. It was like a merry go round!
But Electronic Money Company fights like the 3rd monkey trying to get on Noah’s Ark for our clients. This process started on a Friday. We kept in contact with our client who understood the severity of the issue and was patient to a point. They wanted it resolved before the end of the week. It was now Thursday!
Inspiration hit our head customer service manager. She remembered that we had recently done an update on their credit card terminal. Perhaps if we removed the update and put the old programming back into the terminal, it would work. She guided the merchant through a download and told them to try the transaction again.
BINGO! The transaction was approved at the terminal! Then we sent documentation verifying the legitimacy of the transaction to the risk department in case they put a hold on it. And they did not!
Yeah! Everyone was happy! The merchant was so appreciative of our efforts! We were proud of ourselves that we persisted! I was especially proud of my customer service manager who figured out the problem that a bunch of other people at the corporate office could not! Our modus operandi of persistence paid off again! And we went ahead and raised the limit for our client anyway, just to be safe in case this happened again.
It would be a rare occasion for this serious of a problem to have gotten taken care of by one of our competitors. Most salespeople never have contact with the merchants they sign up. Salaried employees at the end of 1-800 numbers at huge processing companies aren’t motivated the way we are at Electronic Money Company. Our bottom line is 100% commission based on our efforts and results.
When you have a service problem, Call us at 505-296-2847 . We will always take care of you!
